My First Grading Period

With school in session and life returning to "normal", I took this morning as a time to reflect on the first week of school. No, I am not taking any classes, nor am I a teacher. However, I am a mom of two school age children. I finished the prior school year feeling like the tasmanian devil - spinning around in 100 different directions, but not really doing any one thing well in particular (see my May 2011 post). I made promises to change, to be different, to be mentally present in the now. I started the summer off strong ... we were very lightly scheduled and I was enjoying the very simple things with my girls. I deactivated my facebook account; I quit one of my part-time jobs; I was saying no. Simply put, I was trying to just be.
THEN.....
School started and after 4 days in the new school year, I give myself a grade of a 'D'; not a true failure, but pretty close. No one got left at school, everyone ate dinner at night, and my marriage is still in tact. Beyond that, not much past that happened. Or did it??
I proudly put on my "sure, I can" hat again and before I knew it - I have already overcommited myself and my family time. I found myself creating meeting agendas in the carpool line, folding clothes while my daughter tells me about her day, and finding electronic babysitters for my youngest (the iPad is educational, right?!?). The tasmanian devil was starting to grow inside of me and finally he showed his ugly head today. Sadly, I spent the better part of the morning barking orders at my kids and husband - really for no reason other than I have overcommitted myself. I let first days of school override the hard work of my summer.
So, with any less than appropriate grade, the student needs to come up with a plan. How, am I going to improve? What steps am I going to take? How can I turn my 'D' into a 'B' ... afterall, I was just an average student. My weekly plan includes:

- to sit & listen to my daughter tell me about her day. Not fold clothes, not pretend that I am listening - just sit and actually listen.
- politely say "no"
- schedule to be unscheduled
- call a friend on the phone instead of emailing
- when my girls are doing their homework, I am doing my self-discovery homework as well
- recognize that it is early in the school year and with some focus, I still have time to change my grade around

I'll report back at the next grading period.

1 Comments

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Sister, once again, we are riding the same wave. I'm with you every step of the way--I love your plan! And would like to adopt it myself. Let's check in--by phone-- weekly to coach each other...on being--amazing.